Garmin n vi 500 3 5 Inch Portable GPS Navigator
Garmin n vi 500 3 5 Inch Portable GPS Navigator
The Garmin nuvi 500 will guide you while you drive, hike, bike or boat. Go sightseeing with geotagged images from Garmin Connect Photos or see your terrain with the digital elevation model basemap. The nuvi 500 comes preloaded with highly detailed City Navigator North America NT Lower 48 States plus topographic maps for the U.S. The preloaded map data features millions of points of interest, including hotels, restaurants, gas stations, ATMs and attractions. The map data is provided by NAVTEQ, a world leader in premium-quality mapping. Geocaching, including Wherigo Platform player Built-in DEM Basemap (Digital Elevation Model) 3.5 QVGA color antiglare TFT with white Backlight Touchscreen Display – 320 x 240 Pixels User replaceable lithium-ion battery – up to 8 hours depending on use Dimensions – Width 4.21 x Height 3.35 x Depth 0.9 (10.7×8.5×2.3cm) Weight – 7.6 ounces (215 grams)
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Great GPS and Features
Works great right out of the box.
I use mine on a motorcycle, so the waterproof feature was what I needed but did want to spend the money for a Zumo.
There are better GPS units out there, but cost more, and this one does everything I need it to.
4 Stars garmin GPS
Pretty good unit. A little hard to hang on to if used by hand. Added price of lake maps is out of line. Goecaching…haven’t tried yet, but the download was easy and entry of coordinates very easy. All in all, I am very pleased with the purchase.
4 Stars ADDICTED!
I love my new Garmin. It is the first GPS I have ever purchased. I bought it mainly to geocache and it has been pretty good to me. It’s great because it is quick to transition from either driving to hiking mode. Love the touch screen.
3 Stars Good but not what I expected
Good GPS but not what I expected. Screen is small and moving to different sections of the map is difficult. As I said good but I expected more.
3 Stars Not bad, but not all good either.
This unit is fairly nice, but its more of an on-the-road GPS. It has a terrific 3D view and works well at guiding you down the road. It does lack any way of holding it when in the back country though, and has no screen lock for when you throw it in your backpack, so the touch screen goes nuts while in the pack. It also only comes with the 1:100K TOPO’s which are about as useless as they get in the woods, and at the moment Garmin has no TOPO 1:24K maps for the NorthEast, and you have to purchase those separately. There is support for Raster images, but no way to create Raster Maps, which would be a major plus if we could load on USGS 24K maps, which are superior to the ones Garmin uses. I also found the Address lookup ability, which a GPS unit should excel at, was quite useless. There just isnt enough addresses in the unit, it has serious troubles when looking up small towns addresses. I have a legal address and zip code and it refuses to accept it. It will suggest the next town over, or a location several miles from my home, and this is normal for all Garmin’s. I find this annoying, because like I said, this should be its strong suit, it is a GPS unit afterall.
I did find some custom made 1:24K maps online, and they are pretty good, but no where near as good as the USGS. Its a good unit, but they didnt think it thru very well, maybe the next generation of this unit will fair better.
Things that need to be changed or added:
1) Should come with 1:24K Maps
2) They need to get the Raster ability working so we can load USGS 1:24K
3) Address lookups need to be updated/expanded and more accurate(This is a real let down right now)
4) Needs a place to hookup up a strap so you have a way to secure it while carrying it around.
5) Desperately needs a Screen Lock, even Garmin’s vehicle units have this, but a Cross-Over unit that spends its time in the woods/backpacks doesnt?
6) Should be smaller, its just a little to large to carry around or hold.(Maybe adding the ability to turn the unit and have the screen view turn with you, its easier to hold the unit the long way)
